Cut Down In Their Prime

Gamecloud has a piece looking at some worthy games that never made it to market for one reason or another. The one that hurts the most for me is Microsoft's canceled, but intriguing, Norse MMOG Mythica. From the article: "Date of Cancellation: February 2004. Microsoft Games Studios decided to get into the MMORG genre with this fantasy themed game that was announced with much fanfare in April 2003. This game, with a Norse mythology theme, was going to have more of a single player experience than most MMO games. However, less than a year later Microsoft decided to shut down development of Mythica with the team all laid off as well."

Comments

I hope part 2 covers the games from "A.I."

[Artifex]

Very little is widely known about the two games that were going to be made from the movie A.I., except that they were both supposed to be launch titles for the original X-BOX. My guess is that they were cancelled because the movie was not doing well. That's unfortunate, because apparently the games were going to expand upon the universe glimpsed in the movie, with completely different storylines.

Apparently their "prime" was after conception?

[ianscot]

"In their prime" would refer to something that had a prime to begin with. Pre-release cancellations would maybe be "stillborn," forgiving the crudeness of referring to it that way.

The litany of reasons for the cancelled games:

• Decided it would never be profitable.
• Studio working on it was shut down due to broader financial troubles.
• Studio sold off to another company.
• Sequel to a poorly received release "never got off the ground."
• Studio cancelled it to concentrate on another title, then closed up shop altogether owing to financial troubles.
• Had a successful MMORPG, didn't want to siphon subscribers from it to a new one.
• Second sequel to that same game cancelled, developers devoted to the original.
• "Wasn't coming along as planned." This was a precursor to "The Sims Online."
• "Internal problems" (followed by developer essentially shutting down).
• Weren't ever serious about it. ("This was a game we had to give to our publisher in order to get a very sweet deal in another area. We've since talked them out of it.")
• Well underway, but LucasArts decided it would never be profitable and pulled the plug.
• Just plain "decided to cancel."
• Missed its release date and eventually (sort of) got released using a different engine.
• Shut down development, developers laid off.
• Just plain cancelled.

That's almost all financial troubles and projections -- "Our studio is strapped for cash and can't follow through," or "We don't think there's a market." Aside from the Sims title, the absence of "We got halfway there and decided it just didn't work that well" from the list is conspicuous.

Another indication of how much like movie producing the games industry has become. Indies strapped for cash that can't follow through, big studios making projections about market space...

Re:Apparently their "prime" was after conception?

[jandrese]

The official (or even semi-official) reasons aren't always the real reasons. "Financial Concerns" is often a codeword for "the developers aren't getting it done and we're not wasting any more money on this project".

One reason I would have liked to have seen for about half of those games: "It was turning into yet another also-ran FPS, we wanted to work on something unique". The Bab5 game is a real loss though, although it looks like it would have been Wing Commander with different actors, I think it could have done really well.

Golden Sun 3

[fishybell]

The first Golden sun ended with the story only partially finished, the second finished with a huge cliffhanger, and the third...

Well, the third Golden Sun doesn't, and probably never will, exist. It definitely tops my list of games never released.

Of course, since this is talking about games that got started, announced, and then cancelled, the much anticipated Golden Sun 3 doesn't quite fit.

What makes these games so special?

[AKAImBatman]

Other than the fact that some of them have big names attached (Bab5, X-Com, Dikantana*cough*), the article doesn't give us a good reason to have wanted these games over the hundreds of others that have never made it out the door. Experience with games that have made it out the door, has shown that that only a small number of them are ever actually worth investing time and money into. Those that are blockbusters or cult favorites usually have something exceptional about them, such as powerful storylines, intense gameplay, or amazing engines.

So quite seriously, what is it that makes these games special?

I think you missed what I was saying.

[Artifex]

They were set in the universe, but telling completely different stories. So they weren't film conversions. Remember the fake websites and stuff that came out before the movie? There were apparently going to be tie-ins with some of that "history," and so forth. There could have been humans vs. robots taking over cities and the world (pick either side), etc.

The point is, if they cover them, we'll get a chance to see.

My biggest disappointment

[Aeron65432]

was the lack of Freespace3. I thought Freespace1/2 were phenomenally done. Freespace 2 was one of the few game sequels I thought thoroughly improved the previous game in every aspect. Graphics, gameplay, interaction were all great. It was an excellent start to what promised to be an excellent series. Cut down in its prime indeed.

Sadly, Freespace3 was one of the many casualties of Interplay's death.

Sierra

[Johnny Mnemonic]

Half Life for the Mac. Goddam Sierra.

I still refuse to buy any of their product, in protest. I'll steal it, but won't buy it. Goddamit.